Of Little Importance
by ChristinaIrish
Summary: It seems the only people who truly care about Hermione are Harry and Remus - but why? When Hermione is sent on a mission for the Order and doesn't return, who can save her and what exactly is the "package"? Will the Order crumble under the pain?


"What if something has happened to her

"What if something has happened to her!" Harry screamed so frantically that several members of the Order drew their wands in surprise.

"Mister Potter," Snape said silkily, "would you care to calm yourself down and--"

"Calm myself down?," he snapped, "how can I _calm myself down _when Hermione is out there alone, dead, for all we know!".

"Mister Potter I will not be spoken to in that way, especially not by you!" Snape said in a dangerous tone.

"Please, Severus, let me deal with this," Albus Dumbledore said softly, looking directly into Harry's eyes. "Harry, I can assure you that we would not have sent Miss Granger out on this mission had we not the best faith in her capabilities". "However," he continued, "if she has not returned within the next twenty minutes, we shall send a member of the Order to find her, now, Sherbet Lemon anyone?".

Harry looked at Dumbledore in disbelief, had he actually lost his mind? His best friend and fellow member of the Order was out on her own, carrying out one of _his _missions and all he could do was ask did anyone want a Sherbet bloody Lemon! Harry just couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Harry glanced quickly around the table of Order members, looking for any signs of concern for Hermione on their faces. He turned to Ron, expecting some sort of pained expression – but instead found him sucking happily on the sweet he had just accepted from Dumbledore.

Harry was so confused, Hermione should have been back hours ago, she had been sent to the Ministry to collect some important package – Dumbledore wouldn't tell anyone what it was, just told Hermione where to find it.

His thoughts were now racing, _What if she ran into Malfoy? What if some Death Eaters had followed her? What if, she's dead?_

"That's it!" Harry roared, rising from his chair and slamming his clenched fist firmly down on the oak table. "If none of you are going to find her, then I will," and with that he turned his back on the now silent room and strode towards the open fireplace without saying a word.

"Harry," said Remus Lupin now standing, "please wait".

"If you're trying to change my mind Remus, it won't work, I'm going to find my best friend even if you lot aren't bother to," Harry said angrily.

"No, Harry," Remus replied, not even phased by Harry's fierce tone, "I won't try stopping you, I'm coming with you".

Harry knew by the look on the wolf's face that he was not accompanying him out of disbelief in him – but out of genuine concern for Hermione, which made him feel less alone for first time since Sirius' death.

"Utter imbeciles," Snape hissed as the two men entered the fireplace.

"If one pathetic member of the Order is incapable of carrying out a menial task or stupid enough to get herself killed in the process then she should be left to- "

"You evil twisted bas-" Harry shouted before being interrupted by Lupin.

"Harry, leave him, he's not worth it, concentrate on Hermione for now," Lupin said calmly.

After Harry had regained his composure, the two apparated from the room leaving a rather surprised looking Order of the Phoenix behind them.

After they had left, Snape was the first to speak, "Albus," he began, looking intently at the ageing wizard, "why, did you let them go?," "as far as I'm aware Miss Granger was sent to retrieve no more than a Ministry package– hardly life threatening business if I dare say".

"Ah, indeed Severus," the bearded man replied, "she _was_ sent to retrieve no more than a ministry package, I don't doubt she has carried out her task successfully, I just worry that, when influenced, she may have ventured further than expected".

Snape raised an eyebrow, as did many other Order members, even Ron stopped sucking the life out of Dumbledore's last sweet to listen.

"Albus," Arthur Weasley spoke quite sternly, "are you telling us that you sent Hermione into some kind of danger alone?".

"Alone Arthur?" he half smirked back, "she's certainly not alone, she may just need more help getting the package home in one piece than I first anticipated," and with that he quietly entered the fireplace and apparated leaving behind him a room full of very confused people.

Many hours passed and there was still no sign of Hermione, Harry, Lupin or Dumbledore.

All members of the Order were becoming increasingly agitated – especially since Dumbledore had not bothered to tell them where he was going.

"Right," Bill Weasley said rising from the table, "I going to find them, I just know something has happened to them and seen as how Dumbledore isn't here to explain things to us we'll just have to make do with ourselves, now," he continued, "who's coming with me?".

Many people rose from the table, Arthur Weasley even got as far as to plant a kiss on his wife's head when suddenly two people appeared in the fireplace.

When the smoke cleared a figure became visible to the rest,

"Albus!" Mrs.Weasley exclaimed. It wasn't until she looked again that she noticed he was supporting someone else, "oh, my lord, Harry dear, what's happened to you?" she screeched, "Albus, bring him over here and we'll get him sorted out".

"NO!" Harry managed to shout out - although it was obvious that it must have caused him quite a bit of pain. "No," he said again in a quieter tone, "don't worry about me, the other's are bringing Hermione now, you have to help her Professor Snape – she's in a bad way," and with that Harry broke down in tears.

Snape had only seconds to imagine how much work he had ahead of him when the proof appeared right before his eyes.

There, in the fireplace, stood two very war-torn looking men carrying the lifeless body of Hermione Granger. Neither men spoke, only carried her motionless form over to the small bed Professor McGonagall had just transfigured.

Everyone in the room had their eyes so transfixed on Hermione's beaten body that it wasn't until the man beside Lupin spoke that they realised who he was.

"Please," he choked, "Severus, help her, if not for me, then for everyone else in this room".

"I will try my best," Snape answered sincerely as he watched tears stream down the face of a man whom – until now, he had thought dead, that man, was Sirius Black.

"I need space to work," Snape said in a determined voice, "everyone leave except those who have in the past received an outstanding in potions".

When Snape realised that only himself, Hermione and Lupin met that quota he quickly lowered his standards to an _Exceeds Expectations _– still only leaving a handful of Order members but enough to help him brew some potions.

"Right then," Arthur said, "let's leave them to it, everybody out".

"But Dad," Ron said anxiously, "what about Her-"

"Hermione," Mister Weasley interrupted, "will be fine, and besides, Harry is with her so don't worry".

Ron decided to listen to his Father and probably thought it would be best seen as how Harry would probably be extremely annoyed with him for not sparing so much as a thought for Hermione earlier that night. He never thought things could ever be this bad, Hermione was always so strong; he'd never seen her look so weak and vulnerable.

When Ron and his Father entered the large drawing room they were greeted by the sight of Mrs.Weasley trying to comfort an obviously distraught Sirius.

"Shhh, Sirius, there, there, I'm sure this isn't your fault, she'll be fine, you'll see," she tried to say in a calming voice.

"No thanks to me!" he roared, "it's all my fault, she was only sent to bring me home, but me and my longing for revenge had to go and spoil things didn't I?", he said, tears spilling down his tired face.

"_Three years_ Molly I spent in that dark, lonely place, everyday building up more and more anger for the person who put me there – my very own cousin Molly!" he shrieked in hysteria.

"Hermione said we should come back here first to tell you all I was alive, but I convinced her otherwise, I fooled myself into thinking that we could go make Bellatrix suffer – just as she did to me, I was so selfish Molly, so selfish!".

"Sirius," Ron queried shakily, whilst his Mother gave him a glare indicating him to take great caution, "how," he paused, "how, did you get out – of the, y'know,……….the veil?".

As soon as the words had left Ron's mouth, Sirius' expression changed. The funny thing was, he didn't look angry – like Ron had expected, he looked more, _relieved _that someone had finally asked. Everyone in the room was wondering the exact same thing as Ron, but none had the guts to ask – funny really, how Sirius had that effect on people.

"Apparently Ron," Sirius began, "I wasn't really _dead_, I was just, more, _half-alive_," he laughed in such a way it resembled the Sirius they knew whilst in Azkaban – psychotic.

"I wasn't fully _trapped_ in the veil – just more on the outskirts if you look at it in a way".

"Anyway, I heard some Ministry officials outside the veil talking about some way to make sure nobody ever got access to it again – turned out to be the dear old Minister himself," Sirius said, "Problem was," he signed, still wiping tears from his eyes, "I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me – well, not for ages anyways".

"One of them eventually reckoned he heard someone inside and within minutes every member of the Ministry was trying to get me out – all wanted a bit of me it seems".

"Actually," he continued, "when they eventually got me out they all looked a bit excited to see it was me, the next thing I know I'm in handcuffs and being held in quarantine like some dog".

He paused for a short time, finally realising that the other people in the room appeared extremely wary of his state of mind.

"That's when Hermione appeared to _collect _me, smart girl," he began again, more conscious of his expressions, "stunned every person in the room in one shot to save me, I reckon Dumbledore chose the right person to go, determined little mare she is," he smiled sadly.

"But how did Dum-" Ron began to ask before Sirius butted in.

"Dumbledore know I had gotten out of the veil?", he grinned to himself, "young man, there is nothing Albus Dumbledore does not know about the workings of the Ministry – call it _intuition_". 

Everyone in the room was listening so intently, so shocked that all this had been going on whilst they were sat around a table sharing a bag of Sherbet Lemons – how could they.

It was Charlie's turn this time to break the silence; "so, how then, did Hermione get so…hurt?" he asked not looking directly at Sirius.

Sirius looked like he had just been sent to Azkaban all over again, he face lost even more colour and the anger he felt for himself was beginning to show.

"Hermione wanted us to come straight back here, but when I heard that Bellatrix was in the Ministry building, I wrongly convinced her otherwise," he choked. "I had been planning my revenge for so long, hoping someone would get me out of that hellhole – just so I could do it – I wasn't going to just let my killer _pass _me by," he said with gritted teeth.

"I knew Hermione didn't want to go chasing after Bellatrix, so I told her to come back here alone, without me – but she wouldn't leave me," he sighed. "We made it as far as the floor Bellatrix was supposed to be on when I decided what I was making Hermione do was wrong, so," he sighed again, "we turned back".

"We got back into the lift, ready to go home, but, when the doors opened - we didn't eve have time to draw our wand, Bellatrix had stunned the both of us before we had even fully left the lift".

Sirius broke down in tears again, prompting Mrs.Weasley to comfort him despite trying to fight back tears of her own.

"I couldn't move Molly," he screamed hysterically, "I had to watch her torture Hermione and there was nothing I could do about it, I was so selfish Molly, so bloody selfish!".

"Is that when Remus and Harry turned up?" Charlie asked.

Sirius nodded, "Remus held Bellatrix off whilst Harry saw to Hermione and myself but it didn't last long, before I knew it Harry was injured too and Remus had been knocked out – if Dumbledore hadn't come when he did they we would have been all dead for sure".

"Sirius, it's okay dear, shhh," Mrs.Weasley murmured.

"If anything happens to her Molly, I swear, I won't be able to live with myself," he cried.

The room in which they sat became even more solemn and quiet – with only the silent cries of some disturbing the pin-drop atmosphere, this is not how Sirius' return should have been – but at the moment, there was no other way it could be.

They all sat for what seemed like hours, waiting to hear any word from the room next door that Hermione was okay, nobody dared to enter themselves – just thought it best to leave them to it.

It wasn't until many hours had past that Remus finally entered the quiet room – with such tired eyes and appearing many years beyond his age.

Every person in the room stared at him in silence, waiting, hoping for some good news.

A tear streaming down the wolf's face was all it took to tell the entire room the news they had so desperately not wanted to hear.

"We tried our best," Remus said, crumbly on the spot - just as he had done months previously when Tonk's had passed away.

The whole room fell to pieces, tears spilling down their cheeks, painful cries filling the large room to capacity.

No one, could have prepared themselves for this, how were they going to keep fighting the war with this hanging over them, so painful, so sad……………

Although they couldn't see her, or feel her touch – Hermione Jane Granger was still there, in their bond of unity, in their determination and strength and with them every step of the way.

**Hermione Jane Granger was their force that won the war, **

**Hermione Jane Granger was – part of them.**

"_While we watch those around us fall – we build, together, our wall"._

**The End**


End file.
